Page 211 - Eceptor News Today

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have identified a protein that helps tumours evade the immune system and, in certain types of cancers, is linked to a poorer chance of survival. The protein could become a target for future cancer treatments.

In a paper recently uploaded to the preprint server bioRxiv by Kirchhoff et al. (May 31st, 2021) it is demonstrated that a single mutation to the RaTG13 spike protein results in significantly greater affinity towards the human receptor, indicating that the presence of a positively charged amino group at this position better facilitates interaction with the human ACE2 receptor, and helping to identify other viruses with zoonotic potential.

New research undertaken by researchers in the USA describes two parallel but distinct in vivo approaches for the accelerated discovery of antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

Building on their previous findings, scientists from the Immuno-Pharmacology and Interactomics group at the Department of Infection and Immunity of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), in collaboration with the Center for Drug Discovery at RTI International (RTI), a nonprofit research institute, have demonstrated that conolidine, a natural painkiller derived from the pinwheel flower and traditionally used in Chinese medicine, interacts with the newly identified opioid receptor ACKR3/CXCR7 t...

Moffitt Cancer Center presents new data from dozens of clinical research studies at ASCO Moffitt Cancer Center, a national leader in cancer care and research and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center based in Florida, is presenting new data from dozens of clinical research studies at this years American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, the worlds largest clinical cancer research meeting. Moffitt investigators will lead 25 abstract presentat...

Researchers identify kite-shaped molecules that block SARS-CoV-2 cell entry after attachment A team of scientists from the University of Manchester, UK, has recently screened a panel of FDA-approved compounds to identify potential antiviral agents against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative pathogen of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). They have identified a group of kite-shaped compounds that are highly specific to SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2. These com...

Scientists from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA, have recently developed an Antibody Display technology by grafting the second extracellular domain of tetraspanin12 (Tspan12EC2) and the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein on the heavy chain complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3).

A recent study published in the journal Science Advances, explores the immunization of RBD with the P2 epitope of tetanus toxoid, to enhance its immunogenicity, and also tests the benefit of N protein in the vaccine.

A new study published on the medRxiv* preprint server hypothesized that a monoclonal antibody that has the capability to neutralize all sarbecoviruses could also be used to target a highly conserved epitope. This conserved sequence has a high probability of remaining unchanged in SARS-CoV-2 variants.

It might seem like a given that mothers take extra risks to protect their children, but have you ever wondered why? A new study led by Kumi Kuroda at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS) in Japan shows that in mice, this and other nurturing behaviors are driven in part by neurons in a small part of the forebrain that contain a protein called the calcitonin receptor.